


Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: (Dis)Honor Among Thiefs

by P0rygon404



Category: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Humor, Language, On Hiatus, PMD, Pokemon, Pokemon Battles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:40:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27498841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/P0rygon404/pseuds/P0rygon404
Summary: As an attempt to hide from his former bandit clan, a scraggy tries to join a guild.
Kudos: 2





	1. Stealing from Kecleon

“It was supposed to be a simple job. Ambush the merchants, start grabbing stuff, and run.” The scraggy thought as he ran through the woods. “Who knew a pair of kecleon would be so strong…?”

Crash stopped and leaned against a tree to catch his breath. “Scorch is not gonna be happy about this…” The scraggy said to himself as he looked around for any sign of his team, as well as the kecleon.

“And I didn’t even manage to get anything… He’s gonna fucking kill me…” Crash said as he put his back against the tree.

Scorch “The Inferno” as he was called, is a notorious leader of a bandit clan in the western forests and is known for having a rather explosive temper. And it didn’t help the scraggy’s case that he frequently returned empty handed.

“Wait! Let’s talk about this!” Crash said before being thrown out of a large, dark red tent.

“You’ve failed me for the **last! Damn! Time!** ” A deep voice yelled.

“Yeah, well screw you! I don’t need your fat ass anyways!” The scraggy yelled back.

A large orange and black pig stepped out of the tent, looming over the scraggy. “ _You wanna repeat that…? I couldn’t quite hear you…?_ ” The emboar said in a low, angry voice.

The scraggy’s eyes widened as Scorch reached down and grabbed him by the arm, lifting him off the ground. “Cause last I checked, you do need me. But I sure as hell don’t need you…” Said the emboar.

“Look, Scorch. If this is about the raid going bad, it wasn’t my fault! There was-” The scraggy said before Scorch jabbed him in the chest with his other hand. The emboar gave the scraggy one last, long look. Scorch then gave an annoyed huff, before tossing Crash to the ground.

Crash shuddered in recalling what happened last week. “Okay Crash…” The scraggy said to himself. “You have two options. Either you can… You know what, nope, he’ll kill me…”

As Crash continued to walk through the woods, something caught his eye. A vulpix wearing a dark green scarf, and carrying a small messenger bag was walking down the path ahead of him.

After watching the vulpix for a bit, the scraggy soon got an idea. “What’s the one place even Scorch and his cronies wouldn’t come near…? A guild…” Crash thought. “Well here we go… This is either the best idea I’ve ever had, or I’m about to make the biggest mistake in my life…"

Crash kept a distance between himself and the vulpix as he followed her to a nearby town. “Timberglade City…” The scraggy said as he looked out at the city that was quite literally built into the forest.

While most were built on the ground, many of the wooden houses were each perched in the trees, connected by platforms and rope bridges.

Cinder walked up to a massive, hollowed tree, and looked up at the giant treehouse that sat on top of it. “I really hope he finally found a partner for me.” The vulpix sighed. “It’s starting to get a lot harder to do this myself…” She said as she walked inside.

“Um, excuse me?” Cinder turned around and saw a scraggy with a small scar on their face.

“Can I help you…?”

“This is the Timberglade Guild, right?”

The vulpix nodded. “It is.”

Crash glanced up at the guild and stared at it, with a look on his face that suggested he was thinking about something. The scraggy looked back down at the vulpix, taking a deep breath.

“How would I go about joining?”


	2. Forming Teams

“Yeah… if you want to want to join the guild, you’ll have to talk to Guildmaster Vernal about that.” Cinder said as she turned around and kept walking. She then stopped and started thinking.

 _“Maybe I can get Vernal to make this guy my new partner… Wait, what am I talking about? I don’t even know him… But I do **need** a partner… Great, now I sound desperate.”_ The vulpix thought.

“Follow me.” Cinder said, turning towards the scraggy. Before continuing to walk inside.

“So where is the guildmaster anyways?” Crash asked as he followed Cinder.

Cinder then looked up. “Well, his office is all the way up there…”

Along the walls of the tree, there was a giant spiral staircase leading to several platforms that sat on alternating sides. Crash looked up as well, and started to feel a bit disoriented.

As the two made their way to the stairs, something caught Crash’s eye. “Oh shit…” The scraggy said to himself.

There, on the guild’s job board, was a picture of him. With the word “WANTED” directly above it. Crash’s eyes widened as he started to panic. He frantically looked around, before trying to snatch the paper off the board. Hoping to hide it before anyone got a good look at him.

“Hey, scraggy. You coming or what?” Cinder asked, as she started walking up the stairs.

“Yeah, I’m coming, just give me a sec…”

Crash reached towards the poster and hastily tore it off the board. After he did so, an arrow-like feather flew at the board hitting it dead in the center. The scraggy looked behind him and saw a decidueye standing behind him with their wing up, and another one drawn, pointed right at him. “Hands. Up. Now.”

Crash quickly crumpled up the poster, and shoved it into his mouth before doing as he was told…. And immediately made a break for it, darting towards the exit. The decidueye turned and watched Crash run out of the guild, and into the main square. “He’s… surprisingly fast…”

As he made his way into the main square, the scraggy frantically looked for somewhere to run. _“This way…”_ Crash thought as he faced what looked like a market area. “It’s not as crowded as I hoped, but maybe they’ll lose me…”

He ran and jumped through the various tents and stands, smashing his way through some crates before jumping over a counter. “Oh Arceus…” He said to himself, panting.

“You again…” Crash looked up at where the voice came from, and saw two familiar looking kecleon looming over him.

“Shit… Look, I’m _really_ sorry about earlier….” Crash said as he sunk down. The kecleon both looked at eachother, and back at the scraggy with unamused glares.

Crash was then tossed out from behind the stand, and out into the open. Right where several guild members were waiting for him.

Crash was soon taken to a small room inside the guild with a wooden table sitting in the middle. He looked around nervously as the decidueye and an ampharos stood before him.

“Look, if this is about that thing with the kecleons-”

“No, but we’ll be adding that to the list of charges.” Said Vernal.

Crash gritted his teeth upon hearing this. _“Why did I say that…?”_ He thought.

The decidueye continued. “The main reason however is your connection to Team Raiders. Specifically these four.” He said as the ampharos laid down four more wanted posters on the table.

One had a picture of Scorch, the leader of the Team Raiders. While the other three showed an inteleon, a salazzle, and a garchomp wearing a locked metal cuff around their neck.

“Scorch the Inferno, Brine the Sniper, Belladonna the Baneful, and Hunter the Calamity. You are going to tell us everything you know about them.”

Crash simply stared at each one of the posters set out in front of him.

“Well…?”

The scraggy slowly looked back up at the decidueye. His face was pale, and appeared to look like he was about to pass out.

“Is he okay…?” The ampharos said as he leaned towards Vernal.

“What do you think…?” Crash said in a low shaky voice. “Since you know who they are, so I’m going to assume you know how they operate…”

At this point, the scraggy was visibly shaking. Seeing this, the serious look on The decidueye’s face turned into one of pity.

“Vernal… don’t.” The ampharos said, almost as if he knew what the decidueye would do.

Vernal sighed. “If I make you an unofficial member of this guild, will you talk…? We can… try and give you some level of protection if you accept.”

Crash slowly looked down. “I don’t really have much of a choice do I…?”

“Team Raiders….” Cinder said to herself as she stared at a copy of Crash’s wanted poster. “How does a guy like that end up with a group like them…?”

“Cinder?” The vulpix turned around and saw an ampharos trying to get her attention.

“Oh, hey Beacon. Do you need something?”

“The guildmaster wants to see you…” Beacon said as Cinder gave the ampharos a confused look.

“YOU WANT ME TO WHAT!?” Cinder yelled.

“Crash here is going to be staying here, and-”

“Yeah, I heard you the first time! It’s just… Is this even allowed?!”

“Certain arrangements have been made to allow this. Besides, you did say you wanted a partner right?” The decidueye said in a somewhat sly tone.

“When I said I wanted a partner, I didn’t mean… THIS…!”

Cinder then looked at the scraggy. And shortly after the two locked eyes, Crash slowly looked away. “And what if he tries to run?!” She asked.

“He won’t.” Vernal said sternly. The scraggy’s body sank down sightly hearing the decidueye’s response.

As Crash and Cinder left the room, Beacon looked over at Vernal. “Do you really think this is a good idea?”

“I hope so…” Vernal said as he flew up to a perch in the corner of his office. “But Cinder is a capable pokemon, I’m sure she can handle him.”

Cinder and Crash soon left the confines of the guild, and began to walk past the town square. “Can you hurry the fuck up? Cinder said, looking at the scraggy trailing behind her.

“Hey! Listen here you…” He stopped mid sentence as the vulpix turned and glared at him. “Listen, I’m not exactly happy about this either.” Crash said, crossing his arms. “You think I _like_ being forced into this?”

“Well then maybe you should have made some better life choices. Now hurry up, I’d rather not be seen in public with you.”

The two soon made their way to a small treehouse with a flight of wooden stairs wrapped around the tree.

“So this is your place?” Crash said, eyeing at the treehouse.

“Yep.” Cinder said as she walked up the stairs. Crash followed, but was met by the door closing in his face. He tried to open it, but to no avail.

“Really? You’re gonna lock me out? That’s real mature…” Crash said, going back down the stairs.

Cinder soon looked out her window and saw Crash sitting outside with his back to the house. After staring at the scraggy for a while, she let out a sigh and opened the window. “Fine, you can come inside.”

Crash turned his head back to look at the vulpix. “If I recall, you made it quite clear that you didn't want to be seen with me.”

“Well that doesn't mean I want you sitting in front of my house, it makes me look bad.”

“How kind of you…”

“Okay, now I… Eugh! Cinder groaned as she shut the window. _“I actually start to feel bad… And he fucking does that!”_ She thought. “What would big bro do right now…?”

For the next few hours Crash continued to sit in front of Cinder’s treehouse. Even after the sun had set, and the darkness night crept in overhead. The scraggy looked up at the night sky and pulled up the loose skin that hung around his waist as a blast of wind had started to pick up.

“It’s really getting windy out there…” Cinder said to herself, the occasional howls the wind produced only getting louder.

She looked out the window again to find that the scraggy still hadn’t moved. The same guilty feeling from earlier slowly started to come back. “Oh for fuck sake… That’s it! _Stupid conscience..._ ” The vulpix said to herself as she stormed towards the door.

“Get your ass inside, you’re gonna get sick!” Said Cinder, walking down the stairs. The vulpix huffed and glared at the scraggy. “If you don’t I’m dragging you inside.”

Crash slumped forwards as Cinder bit down and pulled on the loose skin covering the scraggy’s tail. “Watch your chin.” She muttered, as they approached the stairs.

_“What have you gotten me into Vernal…?”_


	3. Working "Together"

_“No… No don’t… No, no, no…”_ Cinder soon shot up in her bed, panting heavily. After catching her breath, she looked around the relatively small space that was her treehouse. Crash was nowhere to be seen.

“Arceus dammit…” The vulpix said, slowly getting off her straw bed, and began to walk towards the door. Only for it to open, revealing a certain scraggy.

“Where the hell were you? And is that my fucking bag?!” Cinder angrily asked.

“Just out. And yes, yes it is.” Crash answered as he walked inside.

“What do you mean, out?! You're not supposed to be out by yourself!”

“You getting enough sleep? You look like shit.” Crash said laying down on a second straw bed.

“You’re really starting to piss me off, you know that.”

“And to think I was going to offer you some berries.” Crash said, taking out a berry from the pouch of loose skin around his waist.

“Yeah, like I wanna eat stolen berries from out of there.” The vulpix said, standing over Crash.

The scraggy rolled his eyes. “I’ll have you know I bought these.”

Cinder scowled and snatched her bag away from Crash, looking inside. “Yeah, with my fucking money…”

The two pokemon soon heard a knock at the door. “Don’t fucking touch anything.” Cinder said as she walked towards the door. Opening it, she saw a silver ninetales wearing a dark green scarf standing in front of her.

“Char? What are you doing here?”

“What? I can't just visit my little sister?” He said, putting a paw to his chest. “You really know how to hurt a guy…” Char said, smiling as he dramatically turned away.

Cinder smiled and rolled her eyes. “Just hurry up and come in you big doofus.”

Char came inside and saw a scraggy laying on what used to be his bed. “So… That’s him huh…?”

“Yep, and he’s a real **pain in the ass too** …” Cinder said glaring at Crash. “Wait, how did-”

“The whole guild’s been talking about him.” Char answered.

“So I’m the talk of the guild now huh…?” Crash said, eating another berry.

“Please stop talking.” Cinder said, scowling at the scraggy.

“Well Vernal felt kinda bad about this, and said you don’t have to come in today.”

“Lovely…”

“You don’t sound happy about that.” Said Char.

“Because it doesn't matter if I’m at the guild or not, I’m stuck with him.”

“ _Well that’s not very nice._ ” Crash said in a smug tone as he got up. “ _Because I for one, am so glad to be in your company…_ ” He said putting an arm around the vulpix. The two foxes glared at the scraggy, with Cinder even giving a small growl. “Okay, okay, backing off…” Crash said, quickly stepping back.

“Well while I’m here, How about we go get something to eat.” Char said.

“Does that mean he has to come?” Cinder groaned, as she looked back at the scraggy.

“Hey, it’s like you said, you’re stuck with me…” Crash said, eating another berry.

As the three made their way to the town square, they were met with many stares from various pokemon. “I guess they heard the news too…” Cinder said with her head down.

“Come on, don’t be like that.” Char said, rubbing the top of his sister’s head with his paw. “Come with me…” The ninetales said, walking off.

“See that?” Char said as he went up to a board covered in various job postings. He pointed up to a poster on the board displaying the faces of an inteleon, a salazzle, and a garchomp.

“Your big bro and his team are gonna be part of a group the guild’s putting together to track these guys down.” He said proudly.

Crash looked up and stared at the pictures on the board. Cinder and Char watched as the scraggy slowly backed away from the board. “Can… Can we go…?”

Cinder smirked. “Hey, what happened to that smug ‘mon from before? Guess I finally found something that’ll shut you… up…” Cinder paused as her expression changed when she noticed a look of pure fear creep over the scraggy’s face, as he continued to slowly back away.

“Yeah… sure… let’s go…”

Deep in the forest, a large cluster of tents of varying sizes were set up. A salazzle and an inteleon slowly walked up to a dark red ted tent that was the largest in the entire site. Behind them, a croagunk was tied up and being dragged by the inteleon.

“Come on! I don’t know what happened to-”

“Will you shut up?! Giving me a damn headache…” Said Belle, the salazzle rubbing the sides of her head.

As the two reptiles approached the tent, they glanced at each other before the inteleon spoke up. “Master Scorch.” Brine said, kneeling down. The tent opened as the emboar stepped outside. The inteleon looked up at Scorch, before the pig gestured for him to stand. “Well?”

Brine threw the croagunk fowads. “Tell him…”

The croagunk looked up at Scorch. “Well… Everyone else got caught… Except for Crash…”

Scorch let out a low groan before slowly turning around and walking to a nearby tree. He yelled as his fists ignited while he began to repeatedly strike the tree.

The two reptiles stepped backwards and gave each other slightly worried looks. “Umm… Scorch…?”

 **“FIND HIM BEFORE SOMEONE ELSE DOES!!! DO YOU WANT INFORMATION HE KNOWS GETTING OUT!?!”** The emboar yelled, as his entire body became engulfed in flames. The inteleon and salazzle quickly backed away into one of the nearby tents.

Scorch turned around as the flames quelled, and put a hand to his head. The emboar groaned as he felt a dull pain pulse though his head. _“No one can know about my treasure…”_

“Is it just me, or is he somehow angrier than normal?” The salazzle asked.

“Belladonna, it’s best not to speak ill of Scorch at times like this… But yes, yes he does.”

“For fuck’s sake.” The salazzle said, rolling her eyes. “I keep telling you to call me Bella.”

“There’s nothing wrong with your full name.”

“Yeah, but Bella sounds sexier.” She said, striking a little pose.

The tent soon opened up as a garchomp wearing a locked metal cuff around his neck stormed inside. “And where have you been…?” Brine asked.

“I… got lost…” Hunter said with his head down.

Bella sighed. “You know, if you weren't my boyfriend I’d slap you. How many times have we been over the directions?”

“Well you’re welcome to try…” He said, in his attempt at a seductive tone.

Brine stood up and began to walk out of the tent. “Where are you going?” Bella asked.

“To do my job first off. And besides, the two of you clearly wish to take this further. And I don’t want, or need to see that.” Brine said as he walked off.

“Killjoy…”

“Is it just me, or is everyone staring…?” Crash asked, while he, Cinder, and Char sat at a table inside the cafe they had recently entered. Cinder looked around as pokemon from other tables quickly looked away when she glanced at them.

“Yeah, it’s almost like we’re dining with a criminal who caused a massive scene in town square yesterday…” Cinder said, looking back down at her food.

Crash rolled his eyes and stood up. “Yes, I know I’m very interesting! Thank you!” He said, the other pokemon quickly looking away.

 _“I hate him so much…”_ Cinder thought as she sank down in embarrassment.

As the three left, Cinder decided to go to the guild after all. The vulpix needed something to get her mind off of what happened at the cafe. The walk to the guild was a long and awkward one, with Cinder mumbling profanities the whole way there.

She soon stopped in front of the massive tree housing the guild, before sighing as a realization hit her. _“I’m gonna have to take him on jobs too…”_

Cinder and Crash stood in front of the main floor’s job board, the vulpix looking over the several postings and wanted posters lining the board. Crash peered over at Cinder and looked at the gold, egg shaped badge with wings that was pinned to her scarf. “So, you’re gold rank huh?”

Cinder glanced over at the scraggy.

“What, I know things.” Said Crash. “So I really have to come with you…?” He said looking back up at the board.

“Unfortunately yes… I can’t let you out of my sight, remember…” Cinder groaned as she reached up to get a job off the board. “Let’s go.”

“And where exactly are we going…?” Crash asked, not bothering to hide the suspicion in his voice.

“Windswept Plateau.” Said Cinder before turning to walk away.

“ _Great… Nice and out in the open…_ ” Crash said to himself. “ _It’s not like I’m potentially being hunted or anything…_ ” He said, following the vulpix.

“So how come you don’t have a real partner?” Crash asked as the two walked down a dirt road through the woods. Cinder didn’t acknowledge the scraggy and kept walking.

“What about one of those bags? Do I get one?” Still nothing.

“You still haven’t told me what we’re doing out here.” Crash said, kind of annoyed.

“Do you ever shut up?” Snapped Cinder.

“I might if you tell me what-”

“It’s a bounty mission, and we’re looking for a bisharp. Are you fucking happy!?”

“ _And what crawled up your multi-tailed ass?_ ”

“You did!”

As Crash started to snicker, Cinder’s eyes widened as quickly realized what she had just said. “This is gonna be a long day…” She said, sighing and walking away. Crash followed the vulpix and continued to laugh.

As the forest started to clear up a bit, the two pokemon stopped and looked up at the wide, flat-topped terrain that rose above the surrounding land.

“Alright, this says they’ve set up on the twelfth floor of the dungeon.” Cinder said looking at the description of the job. “Try not to get in the way, alright.”

“If you're insinuating that I can’t fight…”

“Just shut up and follow me.”

**Windswept Plateau: Floor 1**

The two began to navigate the stony paths that twisted though the many trees and bushes that lined the ground. Cinder remained mostly silent while Crash kept trying to talk to her. As much as the vulpix tried to ignore him. He would just not. Stop. Talking.

“For the love of Arseus, shut up!” Cinder yelled, turning around.

“Look, I’m just trying to kill time here. We’ve been on this floor for a while.” Crash said, gesturing to the surrounding area. “You need to lighten up… Oh hey, I think I see the stairs.”

“Great…” Cinder said tiredly.

Brine repositioned himself in a tree as he scanned his surroundings. The inteleon was dressed in a faded green cloak, with the hood up over his head. He sighed and sat down on a nearby branch. _“Where could he have gone…?”_ He thought, leaning against the tree’s trunk.

He had recently been searching for Crash around a nearby town, but the scraggy was nowhere to be found.

 _“Something feels a bit weird about this… I mean, it’s not like he’s the first to try and run off after messing up a job… But Scorch isn’t usually that mad about it… Whatever… It’s probably best I don’t ask…”_ Brine thought, shaking his head before taking a deep breath.

“I may as well enjoy the quiet while I’m here. _Before those two inevitably find me…_ ” The inteleon said to himself, closing his eyes. _“I just hope Belladonna didn’t pollute the tent with pheromones again…”_ He thought, shuddering.

After a few minutes, the inteleon’s eyes soon shot open. He could have sworn he had just felt someone's presence nearby. Staying completely still, Brine slowly scanned the surrounding trees.

 _“There you are…”_ He thought eyeing a sceptile wearing a dark green scarf, clinging to a taller nearby tree. He made a finger-gun with his hand, and with one swift motion, Brine raised his arm and fired a jet of water from his fingers.

The opposing sceptile didn’t even get a chance to react before being blasted in the face. Brine stood up and watched as they fell out of the tree, before removing his cloak and tossing it to the ground. On the way down, the sceptile managed to catch themselves on a branch. He looked up and saw the inteleon that had attacked him. _“He’s just standing there…”_

Brine smirked and jumped, the yellow membrane on his back opened up as he gilded to the spot the sceptile once stood.

After quickly climbing back up the tree, the leaves on the sceptile's arm grew longer and sharpened as he lunged towards the inteleon. Brine simply held out his hand, firing a beam of cold energy. The ice beam attack pushed the sceptile down towards the ground below.

As the sceptile hit the forest floor, the ice beam continued to push down on him. He could feel everything around him growing colder and colder before a numbing sensation crept over his body. Say for his head, his entire body was encased in ice. “ _O-Oh A-Arceus… C-Cold… I-It’s s-so c-cold…_ ”

Brine soon landed behind the sceptile, reaching for his cloak and putting it back on. He bent down and pressed two fingers to the grass type’s forehead. It was at this moment that he got a good look at the inteleon’s eyes. They merely had the look of someone that had been inconvenienced.

“P-Please… P-Please d-don’t…”

Brine just blinked, continuing to stare at the sceptile…

**Windswept Plateau: Floor 11**

“You know, it feels weird being on this side…” Crash said as he continued to follow Cinder. “Never thought I’d-”

Before he could finish, Cinder turned around and shoved him to the side before blowing a stream of fire from her mouth. The flamethrower attack hitting a heracross, who soon retaliated with brick break. Cinder jumped out of the way as a flame consumed Crash’s fist.

He lunged at the blue bug with his arm reared back. The heracross bent down and caught the scraggy in the gap in his horn, tossing him aside. Landing near Cinder, Crash had an idea. Looking at his sil lit hand, and then at the vulpix.

“Hey Cinder!”

“What!” Snapped Cinder before Crash slammed his fiery fist into her side. Cinder felt a sudden rush of energy flow through her body. Catching on to what Crash was doing, she used flamethrower once again. As the heracross fell, Cinder turned to Crash and sighed.

“That… was actually kind of clever…”

“ _Well I’m not all good looks you know..._ ” Crash said in a smug tone.

Cinder rolled her eyes. “Just don’t do it again… We both know that dungeon ‘mons aren't exactly all right in the head. And I’ll be responsible if something happens to you.”

“No promises.”

**Windswept Plateau: Floor 12**

“Well… It would seem some explorers finally found us…” A bisharp said to a group of four pawniard positioned in front of him. “Show what we do to those who interfere with our affairs!” The small pokemon clad in red and black armor charged forwards, letting loose some kind of battle cry.

“Formation A!” The bisharp yelled. The pawniard split up and surrounded the two, pointing their bladed arms at them. As the four pawniard lunged towards Crash and Cinder, the scraggy reached into Cinder’s bag and pulled out a petrify orb.

 _“How the hell did he know that was in… Oh, right…”_ The vulpix thought as she watched the pawniard freeze in place. The two then proceeded to attack the pawniard, Crash hitting one with brick break and Cinder with flamethrower. The other two immobilized pawniard were soon dealt with in the same manner. Seeing this, the bisharp shook his head and began to walk over.

“Useless, the lot of you…” He said to himself.

“Oh, so you’re actually gonna fight us now that you’ve run out of cronies to hide behind?” Cinder said, glaring at the bisharp.

“Silence child!” The bisharp said, as a wave of dark energy left his hand. Crash and Cinder jumped out of the way, avoiding his dark pulse attack. With the two now seperated, the bisharp closed his eyes as an aura resembling swords surrounded him.

“He’s gonna attack!” Cinder yelled, as the bisharp turned towards Crash. The scraggy reached into the pouch of skin around his waist, pulling out a violent seed.

 _“Dammit, what else did he take out of my bag?”_ Thought Cinder.

After taking a bite, Crash felt a rush of power surge through his body. Cinder once again used flamethrower, aiming at the bisharp’s feet. He staggered backwards trying to avoid the attack. Crash used this opening to run up to his assailant, striking the bisharp in the head with brick break.

The two walked up to the fallen pokemon, looking down at the bisharp. Cinder then glanced up at Crash. “You need to stop taking shit out of my bag.”

“I’m sorry, _who beat him again?_ ”

“Go round up the rest of them.” Cinder said scowling, pointing to the four pawniard.

“And I’m doing that because…?” “Because you have hands, and can tie knots faster than I can.” The vulpix said before taking a rope out of her bag, tossing it at Crash.

As Brine walked down a dirt path, he was met by Bella and Hunter. “Uh ohhh… Looks like _someone’s_ in a mood again…” Bella said in a teasing manner, elbowing Hunter.

“I don’t want to hear it.” The inteleon said, walking past them.

“I smell blood.” Hunter said, sniffing the air and turning towards Brine.

“They were annoying me.” Brine said, continuing to walk back to the camp.

“It wasn’t someone from the guild was it?” Bella asked, crossing her arms. “Cause you and I both damn well know that’ll make things more difficult for us if they-”

“He was alone.” Brine said, as he stopped and turned around.

“You sure **no one else** saw you? ‘Cause sometimes you get tunnel vision when you fight.”

“At least I began my search. What have you two been doing all day?”

Bella and Hunter slowly looked at each other, and back at Brine. “Alright, alright, fine.” The salazzle said, waving her hands. “You know what, how about we leave this hole searching thing to you “Mr. Sniper”. Since you’re _soooo_ sure of yourself.”

“Fine by me. But if Scorch gets mad, it’s your own fault.”

Brine made his way back to the camp, quickly entering his team’s tent. He removed his cloak and looked at his bleeding arm. “ _That damn ninetales…_ ” He said to himself as he thought back to what happened.

He was just about to do it, end the sceptile right then and there. When something resembling a spike flew towards Brine, cutting his arm. The inteleon froze and looked up in the direction the spike came from. And there, a silver ninetales and a vaporeon both wearing dark green scarfs stood glaring at him…

 _“I should have seen that coming…!”_ Brine angrily thought as he wrapped his arm in bandages.

Crash and Cinder both sat outside Vernal’s office, Cinder wanting to just go home and sleep after her long and frustrating day with Crash. “You-”

“I will **literally** buy you dinner, if you shut up right now…” The door soon opened, the decidueye gesturing for Cinder to come in.

“Congratulations Cinder, you are now officially Platinum Rank.” Vernal said. “With how quickly you made it to gold rank by yourself, I guess I shouldn’t be too surp-” The decidueye was soon interrupted as a vaporeon burst into his office.

The four pokemon quickly went downstairs to the guild’s lobby, where several pokemon were gathered together. A few members of the crowd moved aside as Vernal made his way though. “Oh no…” The decidueye said to himself as he stared at the sight in front of him. Char was on the floor huddling over a sceptile who had frost covering various parts of their body.

“Alright! Everyone back away!” Beacon yelled. “Char, help me take him to the med wing.”

Cinder and Crash just stood and stared at the events unfolding in front of them. The vulpix then slowly glanced at Crash, giving him a look that could probably kill if she tried hard enough. Crash however just continued to stare.

“D-Didn’t your b-brother say he and his team were-” Crash said in a shaky voice, before Cinder cut him off.

“Yeah. Yeah he did.”


	4. Moving Forward

“What more do you want from me?! I didn’t know he had any ice type attacks!” Crash yelled before climbing onto Vernal’s desk.

“So listen up bird boy, ‘cause I’m only gonna say this once!” There was a silence as Crash leaned into Vernal’s face.

“Well…” The decidueye calmly said, tilting his head to the side.

“Honestly, I didn’t think I’d make it this far…” The scraggy said gritting his teeth as he got down off the desk.

“He’s coming for me, I know it…” Crash said mostly to himself as he began to pace back and forth. “He takes pride in what he does… and doesn't like leaving things unfinished…”

As Vernal watched the scraggy pace, he started to think more about what Crash had told him and Beacon when he first arrived.

…

“So what is Brine like?” Vernal asked the still frightened scraggy.

“Well… From what I’ve seen, he keeps to himself a lot…”

“Anything else…?”

“What, aside from him hating everybody…?” Crash said in a somewhat snide tone. Vernal’s calm expression turned into a more serious one. “Alright! Alright!” Crash said, waving his hands out. “Um… There’s this cloak I’ve seen him wear a lot when he goes out.”

“What about his moves?”

Crash began to think. “Well, I’ve really only ever seen him use one… But not once have I ever seen him miss with it…”

The sound of various things being smashed echoed in the woods as Brine took out his frustrations on the surrounding area. Firing shot after shot of water from his fingers at various small targets before flinching and grabbing his bandaged arm.

“ _Dammit…_ ” Brine said to himself, “I swear when I find him I’m gonna-”

“ _There you are._ ” a feminene voice called out.

Brine sighed. “What do you want Bellado- _What do you want Bella…?_ ”

The salazzle walked over to Brine, putting her hands on his back. “Scorch wants to talk to us…” Bella said in a seductive, teasing manner.

“Please don’t touch me…” Brine said, stiffening his posture.

“But it’s important, and… What happened to your arm?”

“It’s nothing.”

Bella began to snicker when she realized what happened. “So someone **did** get one over on you huh?” She said in a mocking tone.

“ **You said Scorch wanted to see us…** Because if it’s about the scraggy, I still have nothing.”

“Well yes and no… We told him you didn’t find him yet, so he wants to speak with **you** about that. As for me and Hunter, We’re overseeing some relocation stuff.” Bella said before giving an exaggerated sigh. “So boring…”

“May I be honest with you?” Brine asked. “Something about this hunt for the scraggy is bothering me.”

“Is this about how mad the big guy got about this whole thing?”

“Yes, because it’s not like the scraggy has been the first to try and leave-”

“But something feels different…” Brine nodded.

“Well Scorch did say something about information right? My guess is that he was probably looking through the big guy’s stuff or whatever.”

“He did have a habit of snooping…” Brine replied.

“Think we should ask Scorch about it?” Bella asked.

“I feel at this moment, that would be unwise.” The inteleon said. “Besides, I doubt we would get a decent answer anyways…”

Char sat outside the med wing with his head down. Several thoughts were racing through the ninetales’ mind. _“What could have I done differently…? I should’ve stayed closer behind him…”_ Char could feel an intense burning in his chest. Not the same kind as when he used one of his fire based attacks, but rather the kind that makes it hard to breathe.

“Hey Char… You doing alright…?” A vaporeon asked as she slowly walked out of the med wing and towards the ninetales.

“How am I supposed to face him Mist…?” Char asked as he looked up at the Vaporeon.

“Char…”

“I let him go after Brine alone… And he could have died…” He said as he started to tear up.

“How about we go together…” Said Mist, as she leaned up against the ninetales.

Sprig still couldn’t feel his hands and feet, and some of the leaves on his tail and arms were either chipped or missing. As for the rest of his body, a lingering pain and cold was all he could feel. The sceptile was told earlier that if it weren't for Char, the result could have been alot worse.

As he layed in his bed, Sprig watched as the door slowly opened. “Hey guys…” The sceptile said, giving a weak smile. He watched as Char and Mist entered the room. The ninetales having his head down as he did so.

“If it makes you feel better… They said if you hadn’t been trying to keep me warm, the frostbite would have been a whole lot-”

“I’m sorry…”

“Huh?”

“I’m sorry I let this happen to you…”

“Char, I want you to listen to me carefully… I know how much you care about others. It’s one the reasons why we’re friends. Heck, it’s a reason why I joined this team… I don’t blame you for anything…”

“I still could have-”

“You did what you could… Besides, I can think of a few team leaders who would've immediately ran after whoever did something like this… You didn’t. And that’s what matters to me.”

Char gave a teary smile as he glanced away from the sceptile. “There it is… There’s that smile…” Sprig said, grinning.

To say that Cinder was angry was being generous. The vulpix sat outside Vernal’s office, waiting for Crash and the guildmaster to finish talking. It had been a few hours since her brother’s team returned to the guild after their failed mission to capture Brine of Team Raiders.

 _“I fucking swear the moment he gets out of that-”_ Her thoughts were soon interrupted as as the door to Vernal’s office opened.

 _“Finally…”_ Crash thought. _“That felt like it took longer than it should h-”_ The scraggy froze as he was met by the angry vulpix. “I don’t know what you're mad at me for, cause if this is about your brother’s friend-”

“Shut up. Just… Shut up.” Cinder said as she turned around and walked away.

“Fucking bitch…” Crash muttered as he scowled and followed Cinder.

As the two soon made their way out of the guild, Cinder stopped and turned towards Crash. “Go back to my place, I need to do something.” She said walking past the scraggy. After Crash watched the vulpix walk away, he hesitated. He _could_ go back to Cinder’s house… But got the feeling that following the irate fox could lead to something interesting.

“Well, it’s not like I have anything better to do…”

Crash kept a good distance behind Cinder as he followed her around to the back of the guild. Behind the massive tree was a relatively large wooden building. The scraggy watched as Cinder made her way towards the entrance, meeting up with Char and Mist.

“So… how is he…?” Cinder asked. Char looked down and off to the side. “Sprig’s got mild frostbite, but he’ll be okay.” Mist calmly said.

“ _I need a fucking drink…_ ” Char said half to himself as he walked off.

As Crash continued to watch, he began to feel something… It was a feeling that he normally tried to keep himself from experiencing. He felt… guilty… At this point the scraggy decided enough was enough, heading back to Cinder’s treehouse.

 _“Why do I feel bad…?”_ Crash thought as he slowly walked through Timberglade’s main square. _“I mean… that shit probably would’ve happened even if you hadn’t come here… Yeah… And they **wanted** to hunt down Brine… So what’d they think was gonna happen…?”_

Upon later reaching Cinder’s house, Crash climbed up the steps before sitting on the top one waiting for the vulpix to return.

“I can’t believe we have to move **again**.” Hunter said, annoyed. “And I just remembered how to get back here…”

“Well you can blame some of the new guys **for not realizing they were being followed**.” Bella said, turning her head and glaring at a pair of zigzagoon. Both of them running off at the sight of the annoyed salazzle.

“Hurry it up, you bunch of ingrates!” Scorch shouted as he carried two large crates over to a pile of other crates and folded up tents. “Bella! Hunter! Come here!”

“You need something, boss?” Hunter asked.

“You two are gonna lead the transport to the location marked on here.” The emboar said, holding out a map.

Bella took the map from Scorch’s hand and gave it a long look, before glancing over at some of the other pokemon gathering items for the pile. The salazzle sighed, putting a hand to her face. “And where will you be during all of this?”

“Just do it.” Scorch said, turning around and stomping back to his tent where Brine was waiting for him.

“Well, you heard him…” Bella said. “Now do me a favor and get the attention of these fuckers.” The garchomp nodded before turning to the other pokemon and letting out a deafening roar.

“Alright listen up! Those of you who can actually fight, you're with us! Everyone else, start grabbing shit.”

“Gloomy Marsh… _I can already tell I’m gonna fucking hate this…_ ” Bella said to herself.

The atmosphere of the dungeon in front of her was… unpleasant… The water almost appeared to be black, and the only thing that was more dull and lifeless than the grey, soft ground were the trees that the salazzle could only assume were dead. But somehow looked like they could spring to life and grab someone at any moment.

 _“This place fucking creeps me out… And I swear if I get wet…”_ Bella thought.

**Gloomy Marsh: Floor 1**

As the group of bandits trekked through the marsh, they were met with little resistance from dungeon pokemon. Most of which were either run off or swatted away by Hunter.

“This place is fucking nasty!” Bella exclaimed “There better be a…” The salazzle paused as she felt something under her foot. _“I’m not going to look down… I’m not going to look down…”_

“How many floors are in this place anyways?” Hunter asked as he used dragon claw on an attacking trevenant.

“Twenty…” Bella said in an irritated tone as she looked at the map.

**Gloomy Masrh: Floor 19**

“Anyone see the damn stairs yet?” Bella groaned loudly.

“Keh, heh, heh. I can show ya where they are if ya want… But it’ll cost ya all that stuff your buddies are carrying…”

“Alright! Whoever you are, I’m not in the fucking mood for playing games! So show yourself!”

“Keh, heh, heh. Very well…”

“Hi.” A gengar said as they appeared right in front of Bella.”

“You fucking-”

“Let me stop you right there.” The gengar said snickering, his already wide grin growing even wider. “Come on out boys!”

As the members of team raiders looked around them, they saw several pokemon surround them. Groups of Trevenant, amoonguss, haunter, and a seismitoad approached them from all sides.

The gengar disappeared and reappeared next to the seismitoad. “Keh, heh, heh. Now if I was you, I’d start handing everything over.” Bella and Hunter looked at eachother, and back at the ghost type trying to rob them.

“Do you have any fucking idea who we are?” The salazzle said before glancing at Hunter and holding out her hand. “Shall we?”

The garchomp gave a sinister looking grin and nodded as he held his claw out for Bella. “The rest of you guard the stuff. We’re gonna show these clowns who they're dealing with.” Bella said, walking forward with Hunter in tow.

“Get ‘em boys!” The gengar shouted. As the pokemon charged towards the two. Hunter tossed Bella into the air before attacking two trevenant with dragon claw. As Bella descended, she began to spread out her body and spin. While doing so, using flamethrower on her surrounding adversaries. Hunter soon caught the salazzle in his claws before he lowered her to the ground.

What happened next could only be described as a dance of destruction. The garchomp and salazzle swung each other around, stepping around the field as they fought off the surrounding pokemon as if their battle were all some sort of performance. Hunter soon yanked Bella into the air to keep her from getting hit by an attack whilst using stone edge. Bella let go before climbing onto the garchomp’s back and leaping straight into the air, once again using flamethrower while spinning.

By the time the duo finished, Hunter was holding Bella in his arms. All that remained now were the gengar and seismitoad, who just stood and stared at the two pokemon that had just wiped out most of their group. “W-Well, don’t just stand there. Do something!” The gengar shouted.

The seismitoad charged forwards, but not before Hunter quickly tossed Bella in the air and burrowed underground. While the salazzle was airborne, she spat some kind of purple blob at the seismitoad. When she landed, Hunter shot out of the ground, hitting the large blue toad dead on. He tried to get up, but felt violently ill.

“You feel it don’t you…” Bella said in a seductive tone, before spraying them with another toxic fluid.

As the seismitoad collapsed, the gengar made a shadowy orb with his hands. _“What’s with these two?!”_ He hurled his shadow ball at Bella, but it was immediately slashed in half by Hunter.

“You know. I always wondered… **Is it possible to kill a ghost a second time…?** ” The garchomp said as he walked towards the gengar with a murderous look in his eyes.

After making their way to the final set of stairs in the dungeon, the members of team raiders found themselves in a dryer, more alive part of the marsh.

“Finally!” Bella said. “Wait… What the fuck! How the hell are you here already?!” She yelled, as she saw that Scorch was already there waiting for them. With his large red tent set up no less… The emboar just stood there and laughed at Bella’s confusion. “Whatever.” The salazzle said scowling.

“Char, I think you’ve had enough.” Said Mist. The inebriated ninetales didn’t respond, instead just sliding out of his chair and onto the floor.

“Come on Char… What if Cinder saw you like this…” The vaporeon said worryingly as she rubbed Char’s head.

“ _Just… Just let me pass out in peace…_ ”

Later that night, Mist was asleep in her straw bed. Like most teams in Timberglade She shared a house outside the guild with her team. But tonight, it felt empty… Too empty… The vaporeon shot up out of bed and saw that Char was gone. “ _Oh no…_ ” She tiredly said, rubbing her eyes.

 _“Dammit… How hard is it just to find a drunk sliver ninetales…?”_ Mist thought as she wandered the streets of Timberglade. _“Where could he have… Of course…”_ As Mist began walking towards the guild. Low and behold, there Char was stumbling around as he tried to make his way behind the guild.

But what she didn’t expect to see was a scraggy pacing back and forth in front of the med wing. _“Is that…? What’s he doing…?”_ Mist thought. _"No, first we get Char back, then check…_ Come on Char, let’s go back…”

After returning home with Char and getting him settled, the vaporeon went back out to see what the scraggy was up to. “ _Where you going…?_ ” Char asked, slowly getting back up.

“You stay, I’ll be right back.” Mist said as she was halfway out the door.

When Mist finally got back to the guild, she went around the back only to find that the scraggy was gone.


End file.
